Lost Memories The Ninetieth Hunger Games
by Tati-Chi
Summary: Katniss and Peeta's daughter gets reaped into the Hunger Games. She wakes up in the tube, looking out in the arena. She has no memories, but decides to live on instinct. When a boy claiming to be her best friend finds her, she starts to wonder who she is.
1. Chapter 1

I open my eyes.

I'm going up, I'm in a tube. I don't freak out though, I have a sense not to. That I'll be out of it in a moment or less.

I'm right.

I see a metal circle beneath my feet and I've stopped going up. I look around me and notice I'm on a pedestal as the tube around me lowers back into the ground.

"Let the ninetieth Hunger Games, begin!" a voice rings from somewhere in the sky.

I have a feeling I shouldn't step off my pedestal yet. I notice there are other kids on pedestals like mine near me. There's a boy with dark hair looking at me. I get a feeling he's trying to tell me something but I just look away.

My brain is leisurely taking in my surroundings. A wide open meadow with a large golden horn shaped thing with supplies all in and around it. A cornucopia, I think, though, unsure how I know what it is. In front of me, behind the cornucopia I can see it is full of green trees, foresty like and I see a lake as well. To my right is the same scenery of trees except they're all yellow and brown and orange. Behind me I see bare trees and brown grass and a light white coating over the ground. To my left there are full lush trees and green grass and everything seems like it is blooming.

I rack my brain but I can come up with no answer to why I am here, what I need to do, and who I am.

My instincts suddenly take over and I am off my pedestal just before everyone else and I am running to the cornucopia, picking up a green backpack, a set of knives, and an over-the-shoulder pack and sling them on, putting the knives in my bag. A knife whizzes past my ear and before I can think about anything else, I am at the golden horn, grabbing two quivers full of arrows, two bows and a sword and I am running off to my left where the bright full blooming trees are. The climate turns cooler, but still pleasant.

I don't stop running.

I can feel I'm being followed but I sense no threat so I keep running.

I soon feel I am getting tired and begin climbing a tree. There is a sense of urgency and I climb faster stopping once I am a good thirty feet in the air.

There is a rustle behind me and I have an arrow notched in place in the bow and I have the arrow aimed at the boy with the dark hair's chest.

He looks alarmed and confused when I don't immediately lower my bow. I keep it up so he knows I'm capable of ending his life right now.

His voice quivers a little when he speaks and I see he also has a sword and a backpack. "I thought you were going to leave me to get skewered," he says looking in my eyes. He has a gentle face and big brown eyes. His skin is almost olive but you can tell he's pretty pale, even under the shade of the trees surrounding us. "Felicity, what are you doing?" He tries to push my arrow away but I hold it even more firmly.

"Who are you? What's going on?" I demand. He looks even more confused. "Can I trust you? Lie to me and you become a boy-ka-bob."

He nods his head. "We-we're friends, Felicity, of course you can trust me." I see sincerity in his face so I lower my bow and put the arrow away. "Where did they take you? Are you hurt?"

I am confused by his questions. He's my ally, I have a feeling he is. I hand over one of the full quivers and a bow and he gratefully slings them on. "I don't know what's going on," I say, fear beginning to crawl into my chest.

If it is possible, he pales more. "Oh no, they must have brainwashed you!"

Brainwashing? Sounds stupid. But I feel like I need to believe him. "My name is Jay. Your mom and my dad are best friends. We've grown up together our whole lives. These are the Hunger Games, you and I are from District 12 and we have to stay alive to win," he says in a hushed tone. Before he can continue, a knife impales itself in the branch we are standing on and he looks down. "We need to keep going."

We keep climbing until night falls and my hands hurt and I am sweaty. Jay and I climbed and jumped from tree to tree all day only taking short breaks to eat some of the fruit we find growing on the trees and drink some water from our canteens. We stop because it's getting hard to see and find a nice fork in the branches where we can both put down the sleeping bags we found in out packs and sit down to rest. I look through my bag and find a flashlight, a box of crackers and water purifying stuff, and a tub of some kind of cream. Jay finds the same in his pack.

He looks in my bag and smiles a little. "Your mom told us she had almost that exact same stuff when she and your dad were in the Games," he says zipping his bag closed.

I'm very confused now. "Can you explain who my and your parents are for me please?"

Jay smiles a little and takes off his belt to strap his sleeping bag to the tree and tells me to do the same. He picks a few apples from a neighbor tree and brings them over for us to eat. "Katniss Everdeen, now Katniss Mellark married Peeta Mellark officially when they were twenty and had you. The same year you were born, Gale Hawthorn, my dad, and my mom, Baylen Rios, now Baylen Hawthorne had me. They got married the same year your parents did. My dad and your mom were best friends and he says they would have gotten married if she hadn't fallen in love with your dad and he hadn't met my mom," he explains. "When your parents were sixteen they were both in the Hunger Games and they both won. When they were seventeen they had to be in it again. The Hunger Games are where two kids from each of the twelve districts and the rules used to be the kids destroy each other until there is only one left alive. The rules are now that either only one kid lives or if the two tributes from a district manage to stay alive, they will win."

The whole thing sounds barbaric. Then he mentions that it's broadcasted live to the whole country and I lose it. "What? That's completely sick! That's awful, wrong, that's-" Jay quickly puts a hand over my mouth and looks around franticly until I stop trying to take his hand away and I quiet my voice.

"Be careful, they'll hear you, Felicity!" he says removing his hand. I decide to listen to him.

"So what are we supposed to do? I don't want to go around getting everyone I see in the chest with an arrow!" I say.

I'm feeling a little hopeless. Considering I still don't know anything other than what Jay has told me, things are seeming pretty hopeless.

Jay puts his arm around me and I gratefully burry my head in his chest. "You try to get some rest. I'll take first watch and wake you if anything happens." I nod and scoot into my sleeping bag and get fairly comfortable after a minute.

I watch Jay draw an arrow and hold it keeping a look around. This is the last thing I see before sleep take over my consciousness.

_[This ends my first day in the Hunger Games.]_

***Author's Note***

**So.. My first time using fanfiction to show the WORLD my stories. *terrified***

**I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters from the story that are mentioned in here.**

**They belong to Suzane Collins and she is genius 3**

**Kay, so, um. This is only the first part.. This is a somewhat complicated fanfiction.. Sort of.. But I hope you like it.**

**- Tatiana ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

Jay is shaking me. I open my eyes and he has his sleeping bag already in his pack. "We need to move on, find some water," he says.

I groggily get up and rub my eyes. I still feel half asleep and I must be half as fast too because Jay just lets me get my weapons together and on and ready and he packs my bag for me.

I'd like to say it didn't take long to find a water source. I'd be lying if I did. We spot some kids Jay says are from the first few districts. They always join an alliance called the Careers because they're trained for the Games in their districts.

There are only three. "Are there usually only that few?" I whisper. We are perched above them and Jay is drawing his arrow and has two others standing by, ready. He easily takes all of them out, one by one in one quick streak. I hear three cannons and look around, drawing an arrow.

"That's just to let everyone know that three more people are out of the Games. Not alive anymore," Jay explains, gently taking the arrow and putting it back in my quiver. "A few happened last night, you slept right through them."

After raiding the fallen tributes of their pockets and bags, we get two canteens full of water, a bag of dried fruit, and a box of matches. We decide to put the food and matches in my bag and the weapons in his since, apparently for the moment, he'll most likely be using them more.

Even though I can't remember how, while we walk, I practice my archery and nail several squirrels and even a few bunnies clean through the head where there isn't much meat. Jay attaches them on a line on his belt and we keep walking trying to drink as little of the water as we can.

Soon enough we realize we're going to be running out soon. All while we walk, Jay tells me more about how we find ways to sneak over the electric fence that surrounds District 12 and we practice our hunting. Jay and I are only children and I live in the Victor's Village since my parents won the Hunger Games and Jay lives with his parents not far from me. My father, Peeta Mellark, took over his parents' bakery and also sells some paintings he does to the people who can afford it for not much price.

It's sunset and we've risked starting a small fire to cook the meat. I keep watch around us with my bow ready as Jay cooks the rabbit and squirrels. He starts telling me that for the past few Hunger Games, they take one or two tributes and alter them somehow. One year, they took off a guy's leg so he would have to compete with a fake one. (Apparently, my dad lost one of his legs in his first Hunger Games and he has an artificial leg. Can't wait to see that.) Another year, they messed up something in the person's head so they thought everything was on fire. As it turned out, they almost won. Flailing around makes it hard to get you and sometimes you can slap them so hard they're gone. But the girl got up a tree and stumbled and landed in such a way she was unfixable.

"In one or two years they've taken people and wiped their memories fresh and clean," he tells me, handing me some rabbit to eat while he takes watch. "That seems to be what they've done to you."

"Will I ever remember everything again?" I ask, a little afraid of the answer.

"Probably," he says. "The Capitol can do almost anything. They even fixed your mom's ear so she could hear again. I bet if we win- /when/ we win, they'll give them back to you."

I pack up the leftover squirrel and rabbit and help Jay put the fire out. He put out bow and arrows away and go back up into the trees.

Another night, we sleep up here, and while I'm on watch, I actually see someone creeping about and get them without even raising alarm if there is anyone near. Through the proud I feel, I also feel guilty. I can feel it's wrong to take peoples' lifes just for the entertainment of others.

The next day we run out of water. I can feel myself getting dehydrated quickly. I also begin feeling weak and I misstep and fall twenty feet to the ground. Luckily, my quiver gets stuck on a branch and none of my arrows or my bow get broken. Also luckily, I land in a bush. Not so luckily, I land in a bush with my ankle twisted a little. Jay hops down and tells me he's spotted a lake. He helps me to my feet and helps me get my quiver and bow back and with much of my support on him, he gets us to a long river where there is a big rock formation shaped like a cave and he helps me into it. I see a silver parcel float down and Jay quickly comes in with a little tub full of thick, nasty looking cream.

"It's from your parents. Since they're the oldest victors, they get to send gifts if we really need some and your ankle seems to be sprung," he says. I gasp and try not to make much more noise than that out of pain when he sets my ankle straight and starts applying the thick goo that immediately makes my ankle feel better.

I pull my sleeping bag out and Jay helps me lay it out then lay on it. He fills the water bottles and purifies them while I lay in the little cave. I hear Jay take out some knifes and there is a sharp, loud gasp and a cannon and I know Jay's just found someone trying to get to us to steal our supplies or get us out of the way or something.

Night falls and we eat a little fruit and meat and drink some water. Jay has gotten more rocks to pile up so it'd be difficult to see us in the cave. Jay lays out his bag and offers to stay up for first watch tonight again. My ankle has somehow worn me out and I just curl up to Jay, feeling safer in his presence and drift off to sleep where I see vague images of all the faces I've forgotten.

***Author's Note***

**I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters from the books mentioned in this chapter. All of the Hunger Games characters and refrences belong to Suzane Collins.**

**Thanks, I hope you enjoy ^^**

**-Tatiana :3**


	3. Lost Memory 1: Felicity and Peeta

Thunder practically shakes the house and I see lightning light up the sky out my window. There is no way I'm going to be able to sleep tonight. Especially with my cold. The rain is still pounding at my room and I'm burrowed under my covers.

I know since I'm officially seven years old as of last month, stupid things like rain and thunder shouldn't scare me. I don't think it's brave and I like to be brave, even though no one really needs me to. My dad says that not everyone can be brave all the time. Thunder pounds through the sky again and I can't take it anymore. I throw my blankets off me and run into my parents' room just across the hall.

I quietly open the door and see my mom asleep on the edge of the bed on her side how she always ends up in the morning no matter how close she is to my dad when she falls asleep. My dad is on his back on his side of the bed and his blond hair is all messy and I stifle a giggle. Dad always looks so messy and funny in the mornings. Thunder booms and the rain intensifies and I nearly trip over something as I scramble to the bed. I look and see that it's my dad's fake leg. He says it's uncomfortable to sleep with it on so he takes it off before bed. I crawl up and burrow slowly under the covers and curl up by my dad's side. I close my eyes, hoping I haven't woken him when I feel his arm move assuringly around me. I look up at him. He is looking at me with a groggy smile, his blue eyes that I have inherited shining at me.

"Did I wake you, Daddy?" I ask quietly.

He chuckles softly and moves my blonde curly hair off my shoulder and out of my face. "A little. The rain scaring you?"

I nod and cuddle closer to him feeling his warm, bare chest under my trembling hands. "It's so loud," I say with a sniffle. My nose is a little runny from my cold and I didn't even think about getting a tissue before coming in here.

He must have heard my sniffle because he sits up and straps his fake leg on and picks me up. "Let's go check your fever," he says and carries me into the kitchen. He sits me on the counter and I pull the end of my nightdress over my knees as he turns on the thermometer. I open my mouth and he puts it in and I hold his hand, looking how small my own is in his, because the rain is still going. The thermometer beeps and he pulls it out and sighs.

I reach into the cupboard above my head and get a glass and fill it halfway with water and drink it down, realizing how thirsty I am and set the glass in the sink as Dad is putting the thermometer away.

"Still over one-hundred," he tells me and let's me climb on his back and he walks back into his and Mom's room.

"Grr, it won't go down," I say and climb off him onto his bed when thunder booms again. I watch Dad take his leg off again and get back under the covers and I curl up to him under the blankets. He puts his arms around me protectively. "Just go back to sleep, baby," he tells me. "The rain won't hurt you, I promise." And I close my eyes and start to doze off, knowing I am in the safest place in the world in my dad's arms.

I'm still asleep early the next morning. Mom is gently shaking me saying my name. "Felicity, baby, come on. Get up," I hear her voice say gently. My eyes open a little and see Dad putting his apron on over by the door. Dad runs a bakery and he is already dressed for work. He can make any kind of cake or pastry for that matter look so beautiful.

I groan softly in response to my mother and feel her hand on my cheeks and my forehead. "She's still got a fever. I'll just stay home with her today. On your way to the bakery could you get some medicine from my mom's house, Peeta?" she asks my dad. "Of course," he says and I feel him sit down on the bed next to me and gently caress my cheek. I open my eyes and see him smiling down at me.

"Hey, you feel better, all right?" he says. "Maybe if you are when I get home we can make cookies and decorate them."

My eyes brighten. I love doing that. "I'll feel better!" I promise and smile at him. He leans down and kisses me then my mom. "If she feels better, Katniss, bring her down and you can get the medicine and I'll have a surprise up there for her," he tells her and my mind starts to wonder what it could be. Dad always has the best surprises.

He kisses Mom once more and ruffles my hair before going off to work.

"Are you hungry, dear?" Mom asks laying next to me.

I nod. "What surprise does Daddy have for me?"

She chuckled and smiled at me. "I don't know he didn't tell me. Looks like we'll find out later."

I get up and follow her into the kitchen and take a seat at the island in the kitchen. Mom goes out into the woods and hunts for meat and berries and stuff while Dad works at the Bakery and I go to school. She managed to trade some deer or something at the meat shop place the other day for bacon. I watch as Mom makes pancakes and a strip of bacon for me and start stacking the coasters on the table. My mind is still exploring the possibilities of what the surprise might be. I_ have_ to feel better.

Later in the day I convince Mom that I am feeling good enough to visit Dad at the bakery. We walk in and I go right up to the counter and ring the little bell a few times. Dad pokes his head out from behind a door and smiles. "Hey, feeling better?" he asks coming over wiping flour and icing off his hands on a rag.

I nod a bunch. "Very!" He puts a hand on my forehead and gives me a suspicious look.

"You're still very warm, did you trick Mommy into bringing you here?" he asks me raising an eyebrow.

"Nooo..," I say.

"More like bugged me out of my brains," Mom says taking a seat at the counter and rubbing her temples as if she had a headache. Dad chuckles and hands Mom the medicine.

"Now where is my surprise?" I say now standing in my seat. Dad ruffles my hair and goes back into the backroom and brings out a small bare yellow cake. "Why isn't it decorated?" I ask pointing to it.

"Because I wanted you to decorate a cake for my display," he says tossing me a purple apron that is just my size. I gasp and am bouncing in my seat. "Really? So people will see it?"

He nods and pulls me over the counter. "Go back and wash your hands and you can get started," he tells me and I put the apron on and run back into the bathroom to wash my hands. When I come back Dad tells me that Mom's gone home to get her bow so she could go spend a while in the woods. I nod and he ties my apron for me and puts my hair up in a high ponytail and takes me and the cake back in the decorating room.

I've been back here before but every time I come in, I'm even more amazed than before. There is one long table in the middle with little sculpting tools and another long table at the far side of the room where they put cakes together at. In the back are big machines that make the icing and Dad has already set up a table big enough for me to work at near the front window that looks into the main part of the bakery. I go over to the table and immediately start running my fingers over the tools Dad has laid out for me and he sets the cake down in front of me.

"Daddy, can I use that flat icing? The kind you cover your cakes in?" I ask looking around for the machine that makes it. Dad chuckles.

"Sure, let me go get you some."

While he is getting it for me I pick up the plastic knife he has set out and stick it in the cake carefully. By the time Dad is back with a plate of the icing, I've carved the cake into the shape of a heart. Dad raises an eyebrow at me and I giggle.

"It's a surprise!" I say and he just smiles and paws at my ponytail and goes back because a customer rang the bell.

I place a pink icing sheet over my cake and smooth it down like I see my dad do all the time. Then I start decorating the sides with little candies and I outline the edge of the top of the cake in little pearl sprinkles and I see that Dad didn't give me any of the icing in the tube thingy. I look to make sure he is busy then go over near the icing machines and find a shelf of different colours and I grab a few of them and hurry back to my table.

Somewhere along the line of my decorating, a nozzle went bezerk and I got icing all over my face and the apron and even a little in my hair. Mom probably won't be happy about that. I make sure I finish before licking my hands because Dad tells me that no matter how clean you keep your hands, once you've licked them no one wants anything to do with them. I make little roses here and there. Just little basic ones that I got Dad to teach me how to make. I finish and poke my head through the window to see him putting the 'Closed' sign on the door and walking back to the counter.

"Daddy! I'm done!" I say giggling and begin licking the icing off my fingers and where ever I can reach on my face. Dad comes in and I guess I made a little bit of a mess. There was icing on the wall and floor and table here and there from the incident with the icing tube and I spot a few sprinkles and candies on the floor that must have gotten away when I bumped the table of something. He looks like he does whenever I make a mess in my room really quickly.

"I like the cake, sweetie, but, um, what made all the mess?" he asks getting a cloth and wiping some icing off the ceiling.

"The icing didn't want to go on my cake," I say with a giggle. Dad just laughs and puts my cake in the display window and makes me help him clean up.

We go home and Mom is cooking some bunnies or something that she caught today and when we walk in she just shakes her head at us and points us to the washroom. While Dad and I were cleaning up we had a little icing fight so now he was covered in icing as well.

After dinner and a bath for me, Mom heads to the family room, knowing that whatever mess Dad and I are about to make when we make cookies, she doesn't want to witness.

Dad puts my hair up again and tells me not to get icing on the ceiling or Mom will get upset and takes the cookies off the cooking rack. They are simple round sugar cookies but then Dad brings out his special icing thingies and he tells me he's going to show me how to make more little flowers.

I first watch him while he makes a couple then he helps me until I get the hang of it. Mom comes in to inspect the damage and is pleased to find out that we've only gotten icing on the cookies, the counter, and our hands.

I watch her walk by and kiss dad and giggle when she takes a cookie while he is distracted and then eats it as she goes back into the family room. Then Dad sneaks up behind her with his tube of icing in hand and puts some icing on her cheek.

She chases him back into the kitchen and they get icing all over each other's faces and end up kissing each other in the end.

"Eww!" I say and get up on the counter with icing on both my hands and smoosh it into their faces which makes them stop kissing and Dad pulls me off the counter and throws me over his shoulder and laughs when I squeal.

"No fair!" I say but I can't hide my giggles and Dad takes me back into the washroom and dumps me in the tub. Before I can make a break for it, he turns on the shower and I'm being pelted with raindrops.

Mom could probably hear me pulling Dad into the tub with me and trying to figure out how the shower works because she walks in and tells Dad he is setting a bad example and that he's getting icing all over the walls of the tub. Dad and I are laughing now and she just throws him a towel and tells him it's his job to bathe me this time.

Dad pulls off my wet clothes and tosses them in the hamper and wraps a towel around me while he washes the icing off the sides of the tub and gets the hot water going. He tells me when I'm not so icing-y, I can take the bath by myself and then I climb in and get my hands wet and ruffle his hair like he does mine. We both laugh again until Mom says that Dad better get me in bed soon or else something like his cakes are going to be without her icing for a while. I'm not sure what that means so I just try to sop giggling and let Dad get the icing out of my hair.

It's raining again by the time Dad has me back in bed. I'm sitting in my bed hugging my knees staring at the window and Dad comes back in with the thermometer. He puts it in my mouth and after it beeps he nods a little.

"Only a few points over one-hundred," he says turning the thermometer off. "Maybe you can go back to school tomorrow."

"Aww but why can't I just work with you in the Bakery all day, Daddy?" I say taking his hand and waving it around. "That's way more fun than going to stupid school."

Dad smiles and kisses my forehead. "You have to go to school because they can teach you stuff there that will teach you how to do lots of different things at the Bakery. Maybe you can be my helper on Saturday." I smile then thunder pounds the walls and I grip his hands a little tighter.

"Can-Can I sleep with you and Mommy tonight?" I ask looking at the window.

"Of course." Dad scoops me up in his arms. I keep my arms around his neck as he carries me and puts me in bed next to Mom who kisses my cheek and caresses my hair. "Daddy will protect you from the rain, won't you, Daddy?" she says looking at him. He's now just in his shorts and he's got his fake leg off and is sitting next to me. He puts an arm around me.

"Definitely," he says. "That rain will be so afraid of me it won't come anywhere _near_ you." I smile a little and curl up under the covers to Dad once he's gotten comfortable. Mom is still reading so there's a soft glow from the candle but it doesn't bother me.

Dad puts his arms around me and I snuggle as close as I can and close my eyes, feeling sleepy all of the sudden.

"Go to sleep, baby," he tells me and kisses my head right before I doze off thinking about how in his arms I am in the safest place in the world.

***Author's Note***

**I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters from the books mentioned in this chapter. All of the Hunger Games characters and references belong to Suzane Collins.**

**Thanks, I hope you enjoy ^^**

**-Tatiana :3**


	4. Lost Memory 2: Day of Reaping

I towel myself off, having just stepped out of the shower, and brush my hair out. After I finish my hair looks straight everywhere except my bangs which cover my left eye when my hair is down and go down to my left earlobe. It's already starting to curl again. I take the light yellow dress off the hanger and slip it on. This is what my mother bought me to wear today. It has a few ruffles underneath the skirt and goes down to my knees. It has short sleeves and there is a white lace strip across the middle and at the bottom lining of the dress. I sigh, trying to shake off the nerves that are beginning to make me tremble. I walk out of the bathroom and Mom and Dad are already sitting at the breakfast nook, silently eating breakfast. I join them but I end up eating half of my eggs and only a few bites of toast. I'm afraid if I eat more, it will all come right back up. I notice I've been bouncing my right leg and tuck both feet under me in attempt to keep the shaking down but I still end up drumming my right hand fingers on the table while I poke at my food with a fork with my left hand.

Dad puts an arm around me to comfort me, but it only makes me want to bury myself in his arms and never come out so I never have to face the Reaping ceremony.

But I know that will never happen.

Everyone is required to attend the reaping unless you're almost empty of life. Attending the ceremony is mandatory because everyone must participate in it, as if it were a celebratory event.

I push my plate away and follow Mom into the living room when she suggests putting my hair up. I sit on the couch and she tries to braid it at first, but then she realizes that once my hair dries completely, the curls will only make it look funny so she just brushes it out again and puts my hair into a low side ponytail over my left shoulder with a yellow and white striped ponytail holder and puts a little yellow clip up to hold my bangs out of my face. She goes and showers and gets dressed. Dad gets dressed then comes and sits next to me on the couch. I realize I'm trembling again and try to think about something other than the fact that my name has the one in a million chance in being picked and I might be that one but Everything else someone just turns right back to that topic. He puts his arm around me again and I scoot closer so I am almost in his lap.

"Don't worry, honey. Everything will be over soon. It's your mother's turn so whoever the tribute is, she'll go with them. You'll be stuck with me for a while," he says giving me a smile. I try to return it but I just burry my face into his chest and put my arms around him.

I can only hope I'll be stuck with him for a while, here at home in District Twelve.

Soon everyone is in the Square and I'm already in the group of other nervous twelve-year-old girls. I receive and return a few compliments on appearances but soon enough the Mayor takes stage. She is a friend of my mom's, her name is Madge Undersee.

I don't really pay attention to anything, just tune it out and try to pose my attention on a nest full of a few birds in a nearby tree. Then Effie Trinket, the escort for the District Twelve tributes, takes the stage. Apparently she is only in her forties or something, but she was the same escort for my parents and she still only looks about thirty.

I snap my attention back to the stage and she first introduces my parents. They are the mentors, even though only one of them go with the tributes. They both stand from their seats and give small waves before sitting back down. I see they are holding hands tightly, as if they are as nervous as I am, which they probably are.

Effie announces the usual, then says that she will pull the boy's name first. I look over at the line and catch Jay, who is among the other twelve-year-old boys, looking back at me. I hold up my hand and he does the same. We both move our hands in a small circle then press two fingers to our lips and hold out the fingers, as if to touch them to each other. This is a handshake we came up with a few years ago. I give him a small nod and he returns it then we both turn our gazes back to Effie, for she has just pulled out the name.

"And our boy tribute for this year is..," Effie says and looks at the slip. "Jay Hawthorne!"

I pale and look desperately to Jay. He looks like he's been petrified and slowly makes his way to the stage. He stands and stares in the distance but not before he glances at me. I see my mother look at Jay's dad and know she is giving him a silent promise to keep him alive.

Effie announces that she will now pick the girl tribute. She reaches her hand in the ball and pulls it out.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. When I open them again, all I can do is look at the slip of paper in Effie's hands, for she has just announced, "Our girl tribute will be... Felicity Mellark!"

I can't move. I've been frozen with fear. I feel a few hands on my back, pushing me forward and then I realize I have to go up there. I see Effie, looking towards me with pity then glancing back at my parents, who are looking horror struck.

One in a million chance. Of course I'd get it.

I take my place on the stage on the opposing side of Effie and she asks us to shake hands. Jay and I shake hands and then hug. Everyone in our District knows me because of my parents, and they also know Jay and I are best friends.

Jay and I are led back into separate rooms in the Justice Building.

This is the time when loved ones come to bid us goodbye. I don't have close friends at school, except Jay who is going into the arena with me. My parents will be meeting me at the train platform.

The only person to visit me is Gale, Jay's dad. He comes and gives me a hug. I can tell he's been trying not to show how shaken and upset he is.

"You and Jay are a strong pair," he says. "I know you two will try to win, but I need you to promise something."

I nod at him. "Anything."

"Promise that no matter what, you and Jay will stick together. A pair until the end. I've seen how the arena can drive people insane and where I'm confident that won't happen to either of you, I want to know, to be sure, that you two will always stick together," he tells me.

"Jay is my best friend," I say. "I will always be at his side."

"No matter what."

"No matter what," I say. "I promise."

Gale nods and hugs me again. "Good luck, Blondie." Gale has always called me that, ever since he knew that I had inherited my father's light hair rather than my mother's dark hair.

I nod and watch him go as the officials lead him out.

When I meet Jay at the train station, I hug him, not bothering to care that the reporters that are swarming everywhere are taking pictures and broadcasting this to all of Panem. I don't care. Jay puts his arms around me as well.

We break when Effie tells us we need to board the train. We keep our hands together and get aboard the train.

The second that I get on the train, I see my parents standing in a sort of sitting room and launch myself into their arms. This is when the tears begin. I know I am doomed, there is no way I can go into that arena and live to tell the tale.

After a moment, Jay comes over and while I stay in Dad's arms, Mom embraces him. My mom, Jay has told me, has always been more of a mother to him. His own mother prefers his younger sibling over himself and my mother knows it. She holds him and I hear a sob come from him, but I don't dare leave my Dad's arms.

After a while we have to go get ready for dinner and Jay and I go to our rooms.

I shower and find a plain blue t-shirt and grey shorts and put them on before going into the dining room. Both my parents are sitting and I take a seat across from them and soon Jay arrives in a t-shirt and jeans and takes his place next to me. Effie joins us and we eat.

I'm not poor, but the stuff they serve us is so high class I'd have never even known that combinations of things existed.

We eat-I think I stuffed myself a little too much, I am beginning to feel a little sick to my stomach- and then sit in the sitting room again to watch the other reapings.

I feel the nerves come back even harder than they were this morning when I see the other tributes. We are the only twelve-year-olds to be reaped.

There are strong looking sixteen-year-olds from District One, a beefy seventeen year old boy and a huge fifteen year old girl from District Two, a girl that is tall and thin, that trips several times on her way to the stage and a boy that is thirteen that looks like he mugs people for fun from District three. The tributes all go along the line off strong, intimidating, sly, and just plain scary.

Jay and I sit between my parents and are holding each other's hands for support. I know that if it were anyone besides Jay, I'd probably have less hope than I have, which is very little, that I could even stand a chance in the Games.

Effie tries to lighten the mood but seems to only worsen my look on things. "You two are much smaller than the other tributes, and you have Katniss and Peeta to tell you tips. Maybe it will be like their Hunger Games, lasting till the end together!" she says with a smile.

I can't help but think that we are smaller and more vulnerable. Everyone else has mentors that could steal moves that my parents used. And if it is like their Hunger Games, I know I am doomed, my parents were much stronger than I am.

I can only hope that Jay and I can stay with a low profile for long enough for people to forget about us in the arena. I look at Jay and know he is thinking the same thing.

I don't know how I will sleep tonight.

***Author's Note***

**I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters from the books mentioned in this chapter. All of the Hunger Games characters and references belong to Suzane Collins.**

**Thanks, I hope you enjoy ^^**

**-Tatiana :3**


	5. Lost Memory 3: Birthday Girl

I'm perched in my tree with my mom's old bow. Jay couldn't come to meet me here today. He said he had to help his mom at the laundry today. I pull the arrow back and take my aim. It all happens in one quick second. I heard the deer coming a minute before and got up in the tree. Now The deer runs through the clearing and I release my arrow just in time. The deer keeps running but I hear a loud thump and I know I got it's chest perfectly. I stand up straight and drop my quiver and bow into a pile of leaves under me and jump off the branch making sure to bend my knees and land so I am on the ground on the balls of my feet leaning forward and finally am on my knees. I'm back up running to find the deer.

I was right, there is a perfect hole in the deer's chest when I pull out my arrow. There isn't even that much bloodshed. I clean off my arrow and realize I shouldn't have gone with a deer since I'm alone, it's a full grown male, too. I grab it's back legs and start dragging it back over to where my quiver and bow is and put my arrow back and the quiver and bow over my shoulder before I start trying to haul the deer back to the fence. I hide my bow and arrows in the same tree my mom hid and still hides her quiver and bow in as well and heave the deer to the hole at the fence where we slip through to escape District 12 and hide out in the woods. My mom, me, my best friend Jay, and his dad go out here and hunt for meat even though it isn't necessary for us. Both Jay and my families have plenty of money to keep us going but it's just fun and besides, fresh meat is the best.

When I reach the fence I see another problem. Usually, when Jay and I get big game like this, he slips through to the other side and pulls it through while I help when the fur or the hoof or something gets caught on the fence. But again, I'm alone so I'll have to figure out another solution. I sit down and put my ear close to the fence, checking for the hum of the fence to show that it's electricity is on, but of course it isn't. The fence's electricity is never on. I tighten my ponytail and consider hiding the deer and going home to get Mom to come help me get the deer through. I stand up to go hide the deer when a voice says, "Need some help?"

I look up and see my savior. "I thought you had laundry to do, mister?" I say looking at him smiling.

He returns the smile and walks to the fence and starts to help me pull the deer through the gap under the fence. "Mom let me off for the day," he says getting the antlers under and then yanking the first half through.

"Ohh nice," I say as he pulls the whole deer through and helps me through. I hug him and we both carry the deer back to my house.

On the way Jay brings up a topic I've been trying to avoid. "So, excited for tomorrow, birthday girl?"

I sigh, and it isn't from the weight of the deer. "I don't think I'll ever be excited for my birthday until I turn nineteen... If I ever turn nineteen," I say. Tomorrow is my twelfth birthday and it's also the day my name get's put into the reaping ball for the Hunger Games. Each year, they'll put my name in there one more time than before.

"Don't say that," Jay says. "Both of us will turn nineteen. We've only got our names in once, Felicity."

If your name gets drawn for you to be a tribute for the Hunger Games, well, almost every tribute from District 12 doesn't make it back. The last time a tribute survived the Games was during the seventy-fourth Hunger Games- the one my mom and dad one as a District 12 team.

"I know, I know," I say as we approach the Victor's Village where I live with my mom and dad. We drop the deer on my front porch and I look at Jay with a weak smile. Then I notice something blue smeared above his left eyebrow.

"What's that?" I say reaching forward and wiping it off with my thumb. Jay looks at it on my finger and grabs my hand and wipes it off on his shirt before I can examine it. I give him a questioning look but just shake my head deciding I don't really care anymore. The mention of my birthday has made my mood drop a little.

Jay and I walk into the front door and I hear my mom yelling, "Peeta! Peeta! You forgot to take the tea off the stove! Ugh, I swear! I see her rushing into the kitchen and taking the tea kettle off the stove and mumble, "The man can take a cake out of the oven with perfect timing but ask him to simply take the tea off the stove - noo that's too difficult to remember..."

"Mom! I'm back," I say closing the door behind Jay and slipping my shoes off at the rug. "I caught a deer!"

Dad rushes in with paint on his cheeks and hands and sees Mom setting the tea to cool. "Oh, hey you got it!" he says to Mom, earning a dirty look. Then he turns to me and points a finger at me. "Did you leave it on the porch again? Is it bleeding? Is that deer blood on your hands?" Dad asks all at once.

I blink then respond, "Yes, not much, and probably." I look down at my hands and sure enough I've got some deer blood on them. Gross.

Jay does too so we both go wash our hands while Dad moves the deer to the backyard and Mom pours us some tea.

Dad just goes right back up to the spare bedroom he uses as an art studio, he says he's working on a new project.

Mom helps me and Jay skin the deer and she wraps up half of it to for us to take to Jay's parents. I'm already half way to the front porch when I realize Mom and Jay haven't followed me. She runs up holding the wrapped up meat and I ask where Jay went.

"Your father wanted to talk to him about something. C'mon, I'd like to see Gale," she says and we set off to the Hawthorne house.

When I knock on the door, Gale opens it and smiles at the sight of us.

"Hey, Katniss. Hi Felicity," he says ruffling my hair a little and giving Mom a kiss on the cheek in return for the one she gave him.

"Felicity caught a deer today. Thought you'd like some fresh meat," Mom says holding up the wrapped heap and Gale lets us in.

Jay comes home a little bit after we got to his house and his dad tackles him to the couch calling him a slacker.

We stick around for a little bit until Mom says she needs to get home so she can start dinner and do some "stuff".

So I hug Jay and Mom hugs Gale and me and her go home to find Dad just walking downstairs with a few paintbrushes in hand and some green and blue paint in his blond hair.

"Hi Daddy," I say skipping over and hugging him. He hugs me back and then goes into the kitchen to wash his brushes so Mom can have the kitchen.

"Can I go see what you're working on, Dad?" I ask sitting at a chair at the island.

Dad shakes his head. "Nope. It's a surprise," he says ruffling my hair. "But I 've got some other ones you can see." He takes me into his studio, or the spare room but Mom just let's him have it as his studio. Dad loves to paint, he says it's sort of like decorating cakes. We walk in and the wall has almost all of his paintings on the walls. The ones he can get up there and the ones he hasn't sold. Sometimes people from the Capitol will buy paintings from him.

I look and he has three new paintings sitting out to dry. One is of me and Mom, another of me with icing all over my face and hands. I'm reaching toward the person looking at the painting, like in a picture as if I were reaching for a camera. The last one is of me, him, and Mom sitting out in a meadow. I'm in between them picking dandelions. It looks like I'm about five in the picture.

"I like that one best," I say pointing to the last one.

Dad smiles. "Me too," he says.

After dinner I take a shower and brush my teeth. I'm heading up the stairs to my room when Dad puts his hands around my waist and pulls me back and into his arms. "Oh no you don't!" he says.

I squeal when he tosses me over his shoulder and takes me up to his and Mom's room. "Dad! Daddy! Put me down! Ahh!" I squeal pawing at his back. He tosses me down on his and Mom's bed and starts tickling my sides only making me giggle more. "D-Daddy! St-Stop it!"

He finally does then kisses my cheek and ruffles up my hair. I'm still giggling a little and my sides ache a little but I can't seem to stop smiling.

Dad lays on the bed next to me and pulls me over so that I lay on top of him. "You're sleeping in here tonight with us," he tells me hugging me to him.

I put my legs flat on his and put my hands in his hair. "Why? Is something wrong with my room?" I ask.

"No, but I've got a birthday surprise in there for you," he says taking my hands in his and waving them around.

I giggle and put my nose on his. "What is it?" I ask.

"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?"

"It would be if I act surprised."

"I don't think so."

"Well can I have a hint?"

Dad thinks for a minute then lets go of my arms. "It's got your name on it," he says and flips me so I'm laying on my back again and he tickles my sides once more before giving me a quick kiss. "Now, get under the covers and I'll be right back to tell you goodnight."

I watch him leave then curl up in the middle of the bed under the covers. I scoot over closer to Dad's side because I know it'll bug him and it's funny.

Mom comes up and kisses me before she tucks me in and turns the light down. "You go right to sleep now, birthday girl," she says brushing my hair out of my eyes. "You've still got school to go to."

"Mommy... What if my name gets picked?" I say quietly. I don't have to say more, she knows what I'm talking about.

"Don't even suggest that," she says. "Your name is only one out of the thousands of names that are in that reaping ball. And you never have to put your name in more than what is required. Some kids have their names in so many times for teserae. I had to do that, but you don't have to." I've heard my mom's stories about when she and my dad were in the Hunger Games. How they saved each other multiple times. Their sweet romance and how she faked it, but then fell in love with him back in the end. How they got married at 20 and had me the next year. Originally it was for the publicity, to keep the Capitol out of their hair. I guess that makes me a child not of love but it doesn't bother me because I know how much they love me now.

"Jay said that his dad told him that we'd both get to turn nineteen," I say not looking in her eyes.

"Gale is right. I have complete faith that no matter what you both will make it past eighteen." With that she kisses my forehead once and gets up. "Try to get some sleep, honey. Your father will be in here in a minute."

She walks out and shuts the door behind her. I lie awake and stare at the ceiling for a few minutes before Dad walks in and as soon as he sees me he puts his hands on his hips.

"Hmm... I think someone's in my spot," he says raising an eyebrow at me.

I giggle. "It's soo much more comfy right here," I say stretching so I cover his side almost completely.

"Well where do you propose /I/ sleep?" he asks waving a hand to the rest of the bed.

"You could sleep down there," I say pointing to the foot of the bed, "Or right here." I pat the half of a foot left on his side of the bed and he shakes his head.

"Ohh I don't think so." He comes over and lays on his side next to me and drapes half himself all across me. I giggle and try to push him off but he isn't budging. "Ahh, this is super comfortable," he says happily.

"Hey get off!" I groan trying to squirm out from under him but the moment I get free he pulls me into his arms like a teddy bear. "Hey!"

"Hey yourself, silly," he says and rolls on his back so that I'm now lying on top of him. "You go to sleep right away, got it?" he says.

I nod and touch the tip of his nose with my finger. "Got it."

He tucks me back in and lays next to me after I ask him to stay until I fall asleep.

"Now just close your eyes and don't think about anything," he says moving my hair out of my face. I curl up to him in response and close my eyes.

"I don't want my name to get picked, Daddy," I say softly.

He holds me close and comfortingly. "Don't worry about it, baby. It's only once your name goes into the reaping ball. No more than that this year."

"But you and Mom will have to leave, won't you? For whoever get's picked? What if they want both of you this year?" Every year, since my parents are both victors and Haymitch Abernathy, our neighbor and the oldest District 12 victor alive, is usually wanting nothing to do with the games and drinking away his sanity, either Mom or Dad has to leave for however many weeks it takes for our District's tributes to be eliminated. Usually they take turns, but one year, I was nine and the Capitol said that both had to go. I lived with Jay and his family for those weeks. It was that year that our tributes actually almost won so they were at the Capitol for much longer than I was used to. But at the last second the District 4 tributes came out of no where and took down the District 12 kids and won.

Dad shakes his head. "They won't. If they do, we'll get them to let one of us stay. Or make them let you come. We won't leave you behind again," he promises and I can hear it in his voice that he means it.

Soon enough I doze off. I wake up at some point and hear Mom and Dad talking. I keep my eyes closed and pretend I'm still asleep, so I can hear their conversation.

"Prim's name got called, I don't want that to happen to her too. This is exactly why I didn't want to have a child," I hear my mother's voice say. "I love Felicity with all of my heart but I don't know what I'd do if she gets called."

"I know, but there wasn't anything we could do, Katniss. I only regret not trying to talk to the president to get a law passed. It isn't right that two victors' child has to risk being reaped. Especially since /both/ parents are victors in her case," Dad says. They're talking about me and before I was born. I feel them both lay down under the covers and shift a little so I am curled up to Dad again. He puts his arm around me.

"Peeta what are we going to do? If her name /does/ get called?"

Dad doesn't even try to tell her it won't happen like they did to me. He simply says, "We go with her. Get her sponsors and sponsor her ourselves. She won't be alone and we've both taught her strategies."

Mom lays next to me and puts an arm around me as well. It feels comforting where I lay now. In between my parents where no matter what happens I am safe and sound. They kiss and Dad turns the lights off. I put my worries behind me and doze back off.

When I wake up, I'm alone in the bed again and the time is right around when Mom usually rouses me to get ready for school. I crawl out of bed and tiptoe into the kitchen. Dad and Mom are at the breakfast nook and there is a stack of chocolate chip pancakes warm and fresh on the counter as if they're cooling. I see a bowl with icing in it and tiptoe over behind the counter so they can't see me. Every year Dad and Mom let me put candy and sugar and icing and stuff all on my breakfast on my birthday.

I hear Mom say something to Dad and poke my head up and see the bowl of icing right in front of me and put my head back out of view. I reach up and go to stick my finger in the icing to have a taste and then hear Dad say, "Look at that, Katniss. The counter's grown hands and is trying to eat the icing with it's fingers." I giggle and pull my hand back down and he comments that the counter can giggle too. I get on my knees and crawl around the island to poke my head around the corner but Dad isn't sitting there. Suddenly there are hands around me, pulling me up into the air and into their owner's arms.

"Trying to sneak some, eh?" Dad says tossing me over his shoulder.

I squeal. "No no! My hands have a mind of their own! /They/ were stealing it!" I protest but he just walks over to the couch in the living room and tosses me on it with a grunt.

I land against the soft cushions, completely consumed with giggles.

Dad smiles down at me. "Good morning, birthday girl," he said reaching down and tickling me. I laugh and he picks me back up so that he's holding me bridal-style.

"Good morning, Daddy," I say with a smile. He carries me over to the breakfast nook and sits me down in a chair. Mom gives me a hug and tells me happy birthday while dad readies a plate for me.

"So how much icing, kiddo? The usual three spoonfuls?" Daddy asks dipping a spoon in the bowl of icing.

I shake my head. "None.. I'm not really in the mood for all of that sugar today." And I'm not. I'm very hungry, but I've completely lost my sweet tooth to nerves. I'm twelve now. Today, my name goes into the reaping ball. Today I'm legally allowed to be reaped into the Hunger Games. And it scares the life out of me.

Mom and Dad exchange a little concerned look and Dad nods and puts my plate of pancakes and glass of milk in front of me. He ruffles my hair a little.

"Try to hurry, missy. Your father's taking you to school and he has to drop by the Bakery on the way there," Mom says kissing my head. I nod and start eating.

Mom and Dad let me wear my favourite green dress to school and I've been trying all day to keep it clean. Jay and I are outside for recess.

"So it's about time you turned twelve," Jay says. We're on the swing set and he's going a bit faster than me.

I smile a little. "Sorry to keep you waiting. But it isn't my fault you're two months older," I say sticking my tongue out at him. He returns it and I can't help but smile because he just looks kind of silly.

"So, I forgot to bring your present to school. Dad said he'll bring it by when he comes to pick me up," Jay says.

I nod. "Is it another turtle?" I ask giving him a skeptic look. For the past two or three years Jay has found a turtle in his back yard and given it to me as a birthday gift. It's become a sort of joke with us now.

"You'll just have to wait and see," he says with a grin.

It's after school and Jay and I are standing by the front doors. I see Mom and Gale and nudge Jay. We run to them and Gale gives me a hug and tells me happy birthday.

"Thank you, Gale," I say.

"No problem, Blondie. And here you go, Jay. It was right where you left it," Gale says handing jay a little bag.

Jay smiles at me and pulls out a necklace with a turtle charm on it out of the bag. "I did kind of get you another turtle," he says smiling.

I smile, probably bigger than I noticed. It's a really pretty wooden turtle that is about as big as a coin. It's got a green shell and little eyes painted on. I carefully take it into my hand, admiring it. "How did you get this, Jay? It looks like it'd cost a lot of money."

Jay shook his head. "You know how Jennifer, the girl in our class, her dad owns that store where he makes stuff out of wood?" I nod. "He helped me make it. It was really cool though cause he showed me how he could make one in like two seconds," Jay gushes.

"Whoa," I say smiling at the little necklace. Jay tells me to turn around and he puts the necklace on me. I look down and admire it. "Oh, thank you so much, Jay! I love it," I say and I give him a big hug and kiss his cheek.

"Ready to go, Felicity? Your father wants us to meet him at the bakery," Mom says brushing my hair out of my face. I nod, still smiling and give Jay another hug before starting off with Mom. I turn around and wave at him and Gale before we turn onto the street Dad's bakery is on.

Later that night, after dinner, Mom, Dad, and I are sitting in the living room playing cards. I'm in a new nightdress that Grandma got me. Mom and Dad got me some new art books and dresses.

"So, Jay made that necklace for you, huh?" Daddy says, noticing the turtle around my neck.

I nod. "Isn't it pretty? I love it."

Dad nods and agrees that it's nice. He looks over at the clock. "Whoa, it's past your bedtime little girl. Go get your teeth brushed."

"Aww, can I just stay up late tonight since it's my birthday?" I give him a pouty look.

He shakes his head. "You'll be so tired tomorrow at school if you do!"

"So?"

"So, you'll fall asleep and miss out on what's going on in class."

"Hmm... Is that a bad thing?"

Mom rolls her eyes and pokes my cheek. "Go get ready for bed, you."

I smile and go and brush my teeth. Dad comes to tuck me in when I finish.

We walk into my room and I turn on the light. My walls that were plain yellow last I remember are now painted with beautiful murals. It looks like my bed is in the middle of a little forest and on the walls where my door and closets there is a beach mural that blends in with the forest.

I gasp, literally speechless. I can tear my eyes away from the walls. I look up and see the ceiling painted to look like a cloudy sky.

"What do you think?" Dad asks smiling.

"It's beautiful, Daddy!" I look and see that my name looks to be written in the sand on the beach. "This is so cool!" I run over and touch the wall nearest to me gently.

Dad chuckles. "I'm glad you like it."

I looked around for a minute before he pulls me to bed.

Dad picks me up and puts me in bed.

"So did you have a nice birthday?" he asks pulling my covers up as I lay down.

I nod. "Yes. It was fun," I say yawning.

"Well good. I'm glad." He leans down and gives me a goodnight kiss. "Get some sleep, baby. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Daddy," I say as he walks back to my door.

He smiles at me. "Goodnight, cupcake." The light switches out and he leaves.

I lay awake for a while thinking about how the Reaping is getting closer and closer and my name is now in that ball.

***Author's Note***

**I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters from the books mentioned in this chapter. All of the Hunger Games characters and references belong to Suzane Collins.**

**Thanks, I hope you enjoy ^^**

**-Tatiana :3**


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